If the current difficult situation has taught us anything, it is the need for cooperation between public and private agents, the need to promote the growth of our economy through new businesses and to encourage digitalization in all sectors.

Entrepreneurship has been at the heart of the economic history and evolution of the Basque business fabric, and therefore the way our companies work. From wooden shipbuilding, to bicycles and sewing machines, or more recently, to the aerospace field. However, the impetus for entrepreneurship of a technological nature is not only given in a mechanism for the creation of companies and the creation of skilled employment; on the contrary, it has also been shown to be an agent for the transformation of companies and sectors that are considered traditional. We are increasingly seeing large and medium-sized companies invest in start-ups, and work with them, as a way to quickly incorporate advanced technologies. With well-understood globalization, startups around the world are initiatives that connect us with leading companies; otherwise, they can quickly accelerate the processes of Digital Transformation in corporations that would require much more time and effort to achieve similar results.

On the other hand, the world is already immersed in the "Digital Decade" because digitalization is rapidly spreading in all areas of activity, combining physical and virtual space and, above all, the emergence of new opportunities in innovation and economic growth as a result of greater "dating" of society. Through a wide range of technological levers, applied in different sectors, it seeks to increase the benefits of the administration, companies and society as a whole, in order to better respond to complex changes in the environment. Specifically, we are talking about Artificial Intelligence, 5G-Connectivity, Cybersecurity, Interoperability, Data Strategy, Quantum Computing or Digital Capability. A qualitative leap is needed to join forces through specific projects, as they are transversal and involve many actors, which are the basis of our Digital Transformation.

In short, the momentum of Entrepreneurship has been shown to be a catalyst for digital transformation, and vice versa. Both, therefore, are, in our case, the basic tools for developing new products and solutions that offer greater added value and improve the competitive position of the industry.

However, much of the success of both transformations is in the hands of the people. Entrepreneurship and digital transformation must be tools to help reduce the inequalities that afflict many of our territories, as well as to create more inclusive growth that creates new opportunities for social and economic development. In other words, they are key elements in supporting the 10 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations, related to reducing inequalities.

In this context, the role of governments is also critical. We need an entrepreneurial attitude to actively listen to and respond to needs, anticipate and explore new opportunities for the future, constantly experiment with new models and formulas, promote future sectors and projects, use tools with efficient and responsible use (regulation, tax, finance, purchasing) public ...), and to continually strengthen our ecosystem to encourage “things that will happen”. All this in synergistic coexistence with other organizations (multilevel) and private initiative.

Although we have been working for a long time, we at the Basque Government believe that this is the right time, through the Digital Entrepreneurship-Transformation binomial, to take a step forward and direct the transformation of society, economy, industry and sustainability.